Helicopter Practice and Children

[skym02]

I have been flying a Honey Bee King 3 without much success for a few months and just need to practice a bit more. However practicing takes time and if I do want to put more hours into the hobby I will need to involve my kids. The eldest is 12

I would be interested to hear people's opinion on how best to involved children. Do I ket them have a go on the Honey Bee or is it better to get a cheaper FP heli (model?)

I have a feeling that the second option might be the best but I would be interested to hear what others think.

[Vic.P]

Get your kids on a simulator for a few months and then let them have a go with the Honey bee, something like the Phoenix sim would be a good choice. The sim may seem expensive but it will save you a bundle in the long run and may even improve your own flying too

[anyw]

strong rope should do it.
it really depends if they want to do it, if they do then i would get something like a msr or blade 120, and phoenix,

[rachel]

Firstly they have got to want to do it , difficult if you have girls as the ones of us that want to fly are very rare,
Most children are into computer games from about 6 months old so the sim , Pheonix is the way to go.

Be warned though they will progress quicker than you !!!!!!

Involve them and make it fun and they will bloom , just your walet that will suffer.

Oh a buddybox may help (for you) when they go live on the real thing.
Make sure they learn the basics as many young pilots are a little eratic and by pass the basics.

Good luck X Rach

[millerman]

my 2 eldest kids 9-12 fly an msr and 120sr and use the sim quite a lot now and now ive set up a buddy lead with my JR11 we will soon be moving on to the larger helis my yongest is still into lego

[skym02]

Flying with the Kids

The replies are really interesting and thanks for taking the time

From what I have read, purchasing a sim seems the best way forward.

Kids these days are much better "clued" into technology so hopefully the crash repair bills should not be too high. They will probably be less than my own

Just as an aside the msr120 seems to be highly regarded. Is it similar to the honey bee

Colin

[anyw]

the msr and blade 120 are both fixed pitch and very stable.
a sim will help you as much as them (only you can use them as an excuse to buy it, don't buy cheap phoenix is by far the best and will save you the money you spend on it trust me)

[debrooker]

just started my 4 year old on the sim, unfortunately his favourite bit is crashing the helis... i see trouble ahead

[BIGUS NIKUS]

just started my 4 year old on the sim, unfortunately his favourite bit is crashing the helis... i see trouble ahead

My lad is 4 as well and he loves "power" that's cuz he likes to do the power stick while I do ailerons etc! As above though all he wants to do is crash it or drive the thing into the pilots face. I've tried explaining that the idea is not to crash, doesnt seem to work tho!

[Mslater]

My youngest is just the same - Glad its not just my kids !!

[skym02]

That's all kids seem to want to do is crash tings. Mine a a little older (9,11,13) so hopefully they will be interested in just flying rather than crashing. However it does seem that a sim is a good idea, although my intention was to get them out and about and away from a screen